Hudson Valley Astrologer

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world, For I would ride with you upon the wind, Run on the top of the dishevelled tide, And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”

William Butler Yeats

Road trips happen all the time, but the most memorable leave an indelible impression on the psyche that is sometimes hard to shake.

Thinking back on the “road trips” I’ve taken there are a few contenders but the most memorable one was when my wife and I flew to Ireland to visit my daughter who was studying abroad.

I was born March 17, 1961 at 10:50 PM in Glens Falls, NY for anyone who wants to follow along. My birth data is not published, not yet, but I guess it is now. Let’s see how long it takes my chart to make it over to astrodatabank.

We landed in Dublin and took a bus to Galway, where Ed Sheeran started busking when he was only 14-years old. I was a lead singer in a few bands growing up, and have written and recorded numerous tacks in the studio, so this bit of trivia, along with Sheeran’s incredible personal story, carried a certain allure for me. The streets of Galway did not disappoint.

But the most memorable part of the journey was when we decided to take a ROAD TRIP and rented a car to drive on part of the WILD ATLANTIC WAY, mostly through County Kerry. There are magnificent vistas if you have the courage to peek over the edge of a steep cliff that drops off dramatically and cascades down into the sea. A small little town called Dingle is situated on the most western peninsula in Europe. Life seems to settle into a charmed existence in such a way that travelers get the sense of old stories and myths gurgling up from the water, and down stream from the surrounding mountainous slopes. That’s what it feels like at any rate, and is the only thing I can think of that might explain the legendary twinkle in Irish eyes, that do smile, and despite life’s suffering and misery, exhibit resilience and fortitude to live another day because there is always beauty to behold, even in simplest things, the way Seamus Heaney sings in his poem Digging for example.

We got the car! But there was a problem. I hadn’t driven a stick in twenty years and the steering wheel was on the passenger’s side. “Get in guys! We’re gonna take a road trip!!” I almost screamed! A little too excited I suppose about the prospect of the adventure ahead.

First thing you do when you get in a car is put the music on. Lately we’ve been consumed by podcasts, but there was a time when, for many years I only listened to music. My musician friends like to say that we can never listen to or play too many “notes.”

But the music was crowded out by the din and frantic screaming going on inside the car. I was struggling to find the gears, forced to use my opposite hand and “wrong” foot, levering the stick shift and depressing the pedals in an awkward and for me an uncoordinated rhythm. Sheeran himself would have been booed off the stage. The grinding sound of the transmission was frightening and the syncopated rhythm of my foot on the clutch causing the car to move forward in a herky-jerky way was unsettling to say the least, but what was especially nerve wracking was that the roads seemed better suited for goats than a wild American of Irish decent, looking for a thrill.

I was having the time of my life but my passengers were prepared to say “Good Riddance…”

Pull up your own chart for your most memorable Road Trip. What was going on?

Briefly, my chart shows Solar Arc Sun exact on the horizon, the 7th house cusp. Solar Arc Jupiter has also arced to my natal Sun. The Sun rules my 9th house of distant, perhaps international travel.

Nothing unusual or obvious was operating at the level of transits. However, it is interesting that Mars, ruler of the 5th house (children), received a quindecile from both transiting Pluto and Jupiter. And that same transiting Jupiter was trine my Natal Uranus.

Uranus (Astrology) is peregrine in my chart meaning it makes no Ptolemaic aspects, so we can expect Uranus to run away with the chart. A peregrine planet is thought to be Wild! Mavericks, sometimes reckless, or carefree. On this road trip it seemed like the more dangerous something became the more fun I had. But sitting on the cliff at Dún Aonghasa with my feet dangling over the side when we got to Aran Island was even more exhilarating. My passengers however were relieved because we couldn’t drive to Aran Island. We had to take a boat.

HVA

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